ECOGIG Scientists Celebrated 2015 World Oceans Day with Two Events

World Oceans Day, 2015. Photo courtesy of www.worldoceansday.com.

June 08, 2015

ECOGIG scientists participated in World Oceans Day on Monday, June 8, 2015 by hosting and participating two events. World Oceans Day is the United Nations-recognized day of ocean celebration and action. People all over our blue planet organize events to support action to protect the ocean. This year, the theme was "healthy oceans, healthy planet."

ECOGIG hosted a Media and Education Day in Gulfport, Mississippi from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the port of Gulfport. ECOGIG scientists were at the midway point in their three-and-half-week-long research cruise on board the R/V Endeavor. The research cruise is taking the team back to the Gulf of Mexico to continue their research to assess the ecological impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident. They were in port conducting dockside interviews with the media and hosting an educational event including mini-Remotely Operated Vehicle building and ship tours with 200 kids from the local Boys and Girls Clubs. ECOGIG co-principal investigators Dr. Samantha Joye, Dr. Joye Montoya, Dr. Ajit Subramaniam, Dr. Jeff Chanton, and Dr. Vernon Asper and their graduate research assistants participated in the event. ECOGIG's Facebook photos of the event

The second ECOGIG World Oceans Day event celebrated the oceans with a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” event featuring three ECOGIG scientistson the expert panel. Reddit is a news and information website sometimes referred to as the “front page of the internet” and known for active community discussions seen by thousands of people. A Reddit AMA is a moderated panel discussion during which a person or panel of people answer relevant questions from Reddit users. Anyone can become a Reddit user by creating a free account.

The June 8th Reddit, entitled “Challenges Faced by the Ocean and In Ocean Exploration,” featured a panel of six ocean scientists and explorers, including Drs. Joye, Montoya, and Subramaniam of ECOGIG.

JUNE 8TH, 2015 2-4 p.m., EST: Challenges Faced by the Ocean and In Ocean Exploration

June 8th is World Oceans Day. In this Reddit AMA a group of scientists will answer your questions about the challenges faced by the oceans and discuss ocean frontiers for exploration. Today’s oceans are very different from the oceans of 100, even 50, years ago. The oceans are changing rapidly and at this critical time, it is imperative to understand important ocean issues and what we can all do to improve the health of the oceans. Today, the oceans are warmer, more acidic, and their biological diversity is reduced due to overfishing, pollution, and environmental change. In terms of frontiers, oceanographers know more about the surface of the Moon, and even Mars, than we do about the bottom of Earth’s oceans, making these environments prime targets for exploration and discovery. Most people imagine the deep ocean seafloor as a dark and lifeless place; however, deep seafloor environments impacted by fluid seepage are teeming with spectacularly diverse biological communities.

An expert science panel will answer your questions about ocean challenges and ocean exploration. Scientists involved in this REDDIT include:

Dr. Samantha Joye, a microbiologist and geochemist, from the University of Georgia who studies hydrocarbon and elemental cycling in coastal and ocean waters. She is a leading explorer of seafloor cold seeps, where methane and oil vent from the seafloor and also works in coastal regions impacted by hypoxia.

Dr. Ajit Subramaniam, a biological oceanographer from Columbia University, uses remote sensing and autonomous instruments to study the patterns of and regulation of primary production in the oceans.

Dr. Dana Yoerger is a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the Deep Submergence Laboratory, where he leads the SENTRY, an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), team.

Bruce Strickrott is an ocean engineer who manages the ALVIN group. ALVIN a submarine, a Human Occupied Vehicle (HOV) research submersible that has made numerous amazing discoveries, including locating and filming the Titanic.

Liz Taylor is the President of DOER (Deep Ocean Exploration and Research) Marine, a company that builds research submersibles and other deepsea exploration tools.